524 



THE CHEMISTRY OF TUMORS 



and has an affinity for basic dyes.'^ The colloid cancers of the mam- 

 mary gland, in which the "colloid degeneration" involves the stroma, 

 probably contain a connective-tissue mucin analogous to that of the 

 umbilical cord, as also do the myxosarcomas, if we may judge by 

 their origin and staining reactions, but no exact chemical study of 

 these substances can be found. Colloid cancers of the ovary, arising 

 usually from the same structures as the ovarian cysts, contain pseudo- 

 mucin or alhed bodies (see ''Ovarian Cysts"). Colloid tumors of 

 thyroid tissue often contain the typical colloid of normal thyroid tissue, 

 even when metastatic in other organs; in the tumor-colloid may be a 

 relatively normal proportion of iodin (Gierke ^■^). 



Hypernephromas possess several interesting chemical features. 

 For example Gatti^'* brought forward the fact that such a tumor 

 analyzed by him contained 3.4735 per cent, of lecithin, which agreed 

 very well with the amount of lecithin in normal adrenals. Beebe^^ 

 found in the watery extract of a hypernephroma the following sub- 

 stances: tryptophane, proteoses, glycogen, leucine, and tyrosine, in- 

 dicating the occurrence of autolysis. About 29 per cent, of fat was 

 present, which was all extractable without pepsin digestion, and the 

 fat contained about 18 per cent, of its weight as cholesterol. Lecithin 

 was also present, but not quantitatively determined. A study of the 

 fats and lipoids of hypernephromas and other tumors gave the results 

 shown in the following table i^*^ 



Hypernephroma No. 1. — Typical specimen, with the usual amount erf hemorrhage and necrosis; 

 cells much vacuolated. 



Hypernephroma No. 2. — Similar^tolNo. 1. 



Hypernephroma No. 3. — Primary growth resembled more a papilloma than an ordinary hyper- 

 nephroma in most places; no vacuolization of cells, little necrosis, and no hemorrhage. 



Hypernephroma No. 4, — -Tumor resembling a lipoma, witli a stroma in places resembling 

 a fibrosarcoma in structure. In only a few areasj^were cells present resembling adrenal tissue 

 most of the tissue resembling fatty areolar tissue. 



i-Thc fluid of a colloid cancer of the peritoiioviin examined by llnwk contained 

 a protein resembling serosa mucin, containing 11.5 \ivv cent, of X and O.S per 

 cent, of 8. (McCrae and Coplin, Amcr. Jour. Med. Sci., 1910 (151), -175.) 



13 Hofmeistcr's Beitr., 1902 (3), 28(5. 



'* Virchow's Arch., 1897 (150), 417. 



"Amer. Jour. Physiol., 1904 (11), 139. 



"Wells, Jour. Med. Res., 1908 (12), 4G1; see also Steinke, Frankfurt. Zeit. 

 Path., 1910 (5), 1G7. 



I 



